Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to techniques that allow transmission of a plurality of segment data components constituting video data from a transmission apparatus to a receiving apparatus. In particular, the present invention relates to techniques that allow a transmission apparatus to transmit to a receiving apparatus metadata to be used by the receiving apparatus to acquire the segment data component from the transmission apparatus.
Description of the Related Art
In recent years, transmission systems have been provided that allow real-time transmission of streaming content including audio data, video data and the like to users. Such transmission systems enable users to view desired content such as live video in real time via their terminal apparatuses.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2012-514276 discusses a transmission system that allows real-time or near real-time streaming of content by use of transfer protocols such as a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP)-compliant protocol.
A transmission apparatus discussed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2012-514276 divides video data into a plurality of segment data and provides a receiving apparatus with metadata (a playlist) containing reproduction order information and location information on each segment data. Based on the reproduction order information and the location information on the segment data indicated in the acquired playlist, the receiving apparatus acquires the segment data to reproduce the segment data. By this way, the transmission system discussed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2012-514276 realizes real-time reproduction of video data.
When the receiving apparatus discussed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2012-514276 receives the playlist transmitted from the transmission apparatus with termination information (an end tag), the receiving apparatus acquires from the transmission apparatus segment data corresponding to the received playlist and then ends the streaming. In other words, in the transmission system discussed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2012-514276, the transmission apparatus notifies the receiving apparatus of the end of streaming to end the transmission of content.
However, the method discussed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2012-514276 cannot allow a user of the receiving apparatus to end the streaming at a desired timing.
Conventionally, as mentioned above, no discussion has been made regarding a transmission system for transmitting a plurality of segment data constituting content to a receiving apparatus in which streaming is ended in response to an instruction from the receiving apparatus to end the streaming.